L'inversion du sujet et les tournures soutenues
Formal subject-verb inversion after adverbs like peut-être, sans doute, and aussi — a mark of elevated register.
The rule
Subject-verb inversion, where the subject pronoun follows the verb rather than preceding it, is a hallmark of formal written and literary French. Beyond simple questions (Voulez-vous...?), it appears after certain adverbs placed at the start of a sentence — peut-être, sans doute, aussi (meaning "therefore"), à peine — as a marker of elevated register.
Peut-être elle viendra becomes the more formal Peut-être viendra-t-elle, with a -t- inserted for pronunciation between two vowels.
This construction is largely confined to written French, journalism, and formal speech; in everyday conversation, French speakers keep the standard subject-verb order and simply add "peut-être" without inverting.
Examples
-
Peut-être viendra-t-il demain.Perhaps he'll come tomorrow.
-
Sans doute a-t-elle raison.She's probably right.
-
À peine était-il arrivé qu'il repartait déjà.He had barely arrived when he was leaving again.
-
Aussi le gouvernement décida-t-il d'agir.The government therefore decided to act.
-
Peut-être aurait-elle préféré rester.Perhaps she would have preferred to stay.
-
Ainsi naquit une nouvelle tradition.Thus a new tradition was born.
Common mistakes
-
Peut-être viendra il.Peut-être viendra-t-il.
A "-t-" is inserted between two vowels (viendra / il) purely for pronunciation.
-
Peut-être il viendra demain. (informal register mistaken for formal)Peut-être viendra-t-il demain.
In formal written French, "peut-être" at the start of a sentence traditionally triggers inversion; casual speech skips it.
-
Aussi le gouvernement a décidé d'agir. (meant as "therefore", not inverted)Aussi le gouvernement décida-t-il d'agir.
"Aussi" meaning "therefore" (not "also") at the start of a sentence calls for inversion in formal style.
